Memories
by RedWolf210
Summary: A mission is assigned to Naruto, Sakura, and Sai along with a ninja to sub for Kakashi/Yamato. Natsumi Niikyo has to go on a mission with them while reminding herself that they don't remember her. Why? How? Read to find out. T to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

The village of Konoha was quiet and asleep. Silver light from the full moon lit up the empty streets and alleyways. While everyone was in their dreams, a cloaked figure roamed the streets. Undercover agents who patrolled the village ignored the person, knowing that she would do no harm. The woman was walking through the streets, not really thinking of a destination. She went around corners, looking around for anything suspicious. After around twenty minutes the cloaked woman suddenly sprouted wings and flew off with a single beat of her white, angel-like wings. As she flew over the village she looked down for any late night walkers. The angel-woman flew to the top of the Hokage monuments and landed on top of the head of the Third Hokage. A light breeze blew past ad pulled the woman's hood off her head.

The woman was very young-looking – she looked about sixteen or so. Her hair was a dark red, almost brown, and it flowed past her shoulders. Light brown eyes stared out ahead of her, taking in the whole view of the large village. The youth's navy blue cloak flowed back from a gust of wind, revealing the angel's light blue, tunic-like dress. Her dress had a blue belt with a silver buckle which had an engraving of a crescent moon overlapping ocean waves. Around the young woman's neck was a silver locket with the same symbol as her belt buckle. The woman truly did look like and angel, watching over the village of the Hidden Leaf.

She watched the clouds drift in front of the full moon, blocking the path of its silver radiance. As Konoha was shrouded by the enormous shadow the cloud cast, a strong wind flew past the angel, whose eyes hardened and jaw clenched. The angel sensed that the time was close, and that they must act soon. She took off once again and disappeared into the night just as the moon's light fell upon the Hidden Leaf Village.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The Fifth Hokage was doing her usual paperwork, signing and writing on specific lines of a certain document. As she was filling out a form, a knock came at the door. "Come in," the woman said.

The door opened and a girl who looked about fifteen or sixteen walked into the office. She tucked a lock of her pink hair behind her ear and looked at the Hokage with jade green eyes. "You called for me, Shishou?" she said.

"Yes," Tsunade said. "I have a mission for you, Sakura, and your team."

"What's the mission?" She watched the blonde haired woman fold her hands and rest her chin on them.

"Tsunade answered, "You, Naruto, and Sai are going to locate Team Falcon and bring Uchiha Sasuke back alive."

Sakura made a small gasp as she stared at the Fifth. Then she asked, "How long do we have, Tsunade-sama?"

"You have two weeks maximum." The woman stared at her apprentice intently. "Go tell Naruto and Sai to pack their things for the mission. You best get your things as well. You three are to wait at the gates for your fourth member and leader of this operation."

"Hai."

"Dismissed." Sakura nodded and turned around. Before she opened the door, Tsunade stopped her. The pinkette turned around to face her mentor.

"Yes?" the girl asked.

"Be careful on this mission; you don't know what could happen." Tsunade's face was serious, but Sakura saw the worry in the woman's eyes. Sakura bowed to the Hokage.

"I will Shishou." With that the pink haired girl left the Hokage's office and headed out the building. She walked down the street toward the place where she was sure Naruto was at this hour – the ramen shop.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Naruto was slurping up a third bowl of ramen when he spotted pink out of the corner of his eye. "Hey Sakura-chan," he said with his mouth full.

"Hey Naruto." Sakura sat down next to him. Naruto was about to order a bowl for his friend when she told him not to. The boy looked at her.

"Eh? What's up Sakura?" he asked.

"We have a mission. Go get your things and meet me at the front gates," Sakura said. "I better go and get my stuff together. We have to leave as soon as possible."

Naruto saw the seriousness in her gaze and nodded. "Did you get Sai already?" When she shook her head no he said, "Alright, I'll go get him for you."

"Thanks Naruto." Sakura stood up and, with a "good-bye", left the stand. Naruto gulped down the rest of his soup, paid the bill, and ran off to where Sai lived. Once he arrived at his comrade's apartment he knocked on the door. Sai answered it and gave Naruto a fake smile.

"Hey, what brings you here di--". Naruto cut him off.

"We have a mission Sai. Get ready and meet at the gates," Naruto said. Sai nodded and closed the door. Naruto then ran off toward his apartment to pack up as well.

Naruto was approaching the village gates and saw two people already there. One of the two people he recognized as Sakura, her pink hair wasn't hard to miss. The second person turned out to be Sai. Naruto stopped in front of the two and looked around. "Where's Kakashi-sensei, or Yamato?" he asked.

"Both of them are out on a mission already," Sakura answered.

"So who's our fourth member?" Just then there was a rustling in a nearby tree. Sakura, Sai, and Naruto looked up into the tree. A young woman leaped off the branch where she perched and landed in a crouch on the ground to absorb the impact. When she straightened, the three ninja had a good look of her.

The girl, who looked about sixteen or seventeen, had the green vest of a Chunin/higher ranked ninja. She wore a fitting black shirt with black shorts that ended just above her knees. Around her waist was a dark brown leather belt that held her sheathed katana on her right hip and weapons pouch on her left on the back. Her long, bright red hair was tied up in a bun held up by a single chopstick. The Leaf Village symbol on her headband shone proudly on her forehead. The young woman put her hands on her hips and stared at the three before her. After a minute the kunoichi smiled at them, her intense gaze turning a bit softer. "Nice to meet you all, Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Sai," she said.

"How did you know our names?" Sakura asked.

"And who are you?" asked Naruto. The young woman smirked at them.

"My name is Natsumi Niikyo," the girl replied. "I am your fourth member as well as the leader of this mission since neither Kakashi nor Yamato could make it. Does everyone know the mission?"

Naruto and Sai shook their heads. Natsumi glanced at Sakura. "You did not tell them of the mission? Well, I'll fill them in once we get some distance from here." The young redheaded woman began to walk away. "Let's go."

"Hey! You're supposed to tell us the mission before we head out!" Naruto shouted. He ran after the kunoichi, as did his teammates. Natsumi had stopped to let them catch up, and then she turned to face the blonde.

"Naruto, I am leading this retrieval mission. I will tell you what the whole mission is when we are out of earshot from other people." She saw Naruto's confused expression, but she ignored it and started running. Her team followed closely behind.

After several hours of running the four took a break. Natsumi sat on the ground cross-legged while the other three sat in front of her. Finally, Naruto asked, "What is the mission exactly?"

Natsumi sighed. "Alright. The mission is to hunt down Team Falcon, arrest or kill the three named Juugo, Sauigetsu, and Karin, and then capture Uchiha Sasuke and take him back to Konoha." She looked at the faces before her. "The Hokage has given us two weeks to complete this mission because it will be difficult to catch Team Falcon since they move around a lot these days."

"How will we find them in the first place?" Naruto asked.

"While I was on a mission to gather information about them, I bumped into the female of Team Falcon, Karin. She has the gift to sense chakra levels and signatures from great distances, and eventually will find us even if we mask our chakra. The other two have important abilities and facts as well. Still, I can track Karin down by scent."

"So you use your nose like Kiba?"

"Well, yes, but my sensitive sense of smell is more natural than chakra enhanced. You should know that Naruto, we've met before." The woman suddenly became aware of what she said and tensed slightly. Naruto stared at her, clearly confused. She tried to explain, "You, me, Sakura, and even Sasuke went on a mission together when…" Natsumi stopped and shook her head. "Never-mind, you both wouldn't remember me."

Sakura was about to ask her a question when the red haired woman stood up and was listening to something else. Her question changed, "What is it, Natsumi-san?"

"Come on, we need to gain at least five more miles or else we'll lose Team Falcon." Before anyone could question her again, she ran off into the trees. Naruto, Sai, and Sakura dashed after her.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Camp was set up for the night, and Sakura and Sai were asleep. Naruto was also asleep until the sound of movement in the bushed. He sat up and automatically pulled out a kunai, facing the source of the sound. The boy lowered his knife when he saw Natsumi walk into the firelight. He watched the kunoichi sit by the fire pit and stare at the glowing coals. After some silence, Naruto spoke.

"So…we met before?"

Natsumi nodded while staring at the red hot embers in the charcoal. "We were friends, Naruto," she said.

"Then how come I don't remember you?"

"Another story, another time Naruto. Go get some sleep."

"But Nat--"

"Please don't argue Naruto-kun. It will not help my mood." The look in her eyes made the boy remain quiet – it wasn't a stern gaze but a concerned, pained look. Naruto decided that he shouldn't argue, and so he lied down on his mat and closed his eyes.

Natsumi sighed in relief when she heard the relaxed breathing of the sleeping Naruto. She put a bit more sticks into the pit, and they lit quickly. As she stared into the flames, memories came back to her.

~**Flashback**~

Natsumi, Naruto, and Sakura had finished their mission to escort a lord back to his homeland in the Land of Earth. On their way back to Konoha, the three were just talking about other things when Natsumi sensed another presence. She froze and pulled out a kunai. Naruto and Sakura did the same.

"What is it Nat?" asked Naruto.

"Four shinobi, and they smell like earth and preparing to strike," the redhead reported. Suddenly, twelve kunai knives were thrown at them from all sides, but the four Leaf ninja deflected them with ease. A marble-sized sphere fell at Natsumi's feet, and three more landed by her comrades. The marbles hissed and spat out a purple smoke.

"Poison bomb!" Sakura gasped. "Hold your breath!" Naruto and Natsumi did as she instructed. Natsumi saw the surrounding smoke shift, and three men appeared around her.

'Crap!' Natsumi thought. Quickly, she pulled out her katana and took them three against one. She killed all three men and stood with her weapon at the ready as the poison fog lifted. She looked around and saw her two comrades lying on the ground unconscious. She put away her katana and ran over to them. She checked them for any serious injuries; there were none. The kunoichi knew that there still something wrong. She put her hand on Sakura's forehead and inserted healing chakra into her skull. She did the same for Naruto.

'Damn, both have taken a blow to the brain. One of the four men had attacked their Hippocampus and messing with their memory…' Natsumi growled to herself and looked down the road. The village was still several miles away, and she needed to carry them both to the hospital where they could recieve proper medical treatment. She looked up at the clouds in the grey sky and whistled.

Out from a cloud a large serpent descended to the earth. The dragon spiraled down toward the red haired kunoichi and her fallen comrades. It pulled up when it was ten feet from the ground and landed on its four legs. The dragon was fifteen feet long and stood as tall as a horse. The dragon's blue grey eyes stared at Natsumi, waiting for an order.

"We need to get them to Konoha Hospital, fast," the girl said. The dragon kneeled down, and Natsumi picked up Naruto and made him sit on the serpent. She picked up and positioned Sakura on it and then jumped onto its back herself. She then said, "Let's go!"

With a roar, the stormy blue dragon took off into the air and started climbing up into the atmosphere. As soon as they were at least a half-mile up in the sky, the dragon leveled out and cruised. It then spoke. "What happened my lady?" the dragon asked in a tone that belonged to an aged knight.

"We were ambushed," Natsumi answered. "Three of the four attackers kept me away from Naruto and Sakura while the fourth member of their squad raided their memories for something."

The dragon growled. "Removing memories is a risky job. It could well kill the victim or put them in a comotose state, if they're lucky."

"That's why we need to hurry Haku." The dragon turned his head to see Natsumi's worried, pained expression. "Please hurry, Haku," she pleaded.

"As you wish, Lady Natsumi," Haku said. He sped up toward their destination. The village was apotted below, and Haku dove down and landed ontop of the hospital on its roof. "This is as far as I go my lady."

"That's fine Haku, thank you," Natsumi said. She jumped off and made a shadow clone. She took Sakura while her duplicate took Naruto. Both took off and ran into the hospital. Natsumi was met by nurses, who took the two ninja and rushed them off for care. Now all the kunoichi could do is wait.

Hours had passed, and Natsumi was pacing back and forth in the general waiting room. She stopped when she heard the sound f high heels coming towards her. The kunoichi looked up to see Tsunade standing before her. "Were they that bad?" Natsumi asked. The girl didn't notice the legendary healer walk in an hour ago, and that made the Fifth's face even sadder than it already was.

"Natsumi..." she started.

"What is it Tsunade-sama?" The blond woman quietly finished her sentence, and it hurt her to say it. It still had to be said.

"They don't remember you, Natsumi."

Said kunoichi stared at the medic. "W-what do you mean, Hokage-sama?"

"Their memories of you may have been erased as a side-effect from the memory probing. Either that or those memories were the target in the first place. Naruto and Sakura don't remember you. I mentioned your name and they only asked me who you were." Tsunade frowned. "I really hope that the memories of you are there, Natsumi, But I can't be too sure. I'm sorry."

"Can I see them for myself?" the red haired kunoichi asked.

"Of course Natsumi, just don't force them to remember."

"I know ma'am. Thanks."

"Would you like me to accompany you?" Tsunade really felt bad for the Niikyo, and Natsumi could tell. To make her feel better the girl nodded. The two of them walked down the hallway toward the room where Natsumi's two friends were resting. They arrived at the room, and Natsumi knocked lightly before opening the door. She entered the room while Tsunade waited outside. Natsumi was standing in the doorway staring at the two people who were sitting in their beds.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked. Natsumi didn't mind the question, but the blank look in his eyes had hurt her on the inside. It looked like he really doesn't know her.

"I'm an inspector," Natsumi lied. She used this as a test and hoped that one of them would snap out of the memory blank. "I want to know what happened so I can investigate with other Jonin."

Sakura nodded. "Well, Naruto and I were heading back here when we were ambushed by several shinobi. We fought but fell into unconsciousness, and when we woke up we were here in the hospital with Tsunade-sama."

Naruto nodded, agreeing with his friend's summary. Natsumi, too, nodded, but her heart was hurt terribly. She was on that mission that took place only several hours ago, and her presence was wiped clean off their memory. Strange, but all it did to Natsumi right now was send her into the darkness of loneliness and sorrow. Naruto and Sakura were her closest friends, and now they don't remember her at all. They've been through many things together, even the Chunin Exams! Now they both knew nothing about her or their friendship -- all in a minute or two's time of memory meddling from a damned bastard of a ninja. Natsumi realized that they were waiting on her response, and so she spoke.

"I see... Well, thank you for your time. You two should probably rest more, it'd be the doctor's orders." Natsumi turned and left the room, too shocked to continue the act. She closed the door and faced the Fifth Hokage. "You are correct, they do not remember me. So, if you will excuse me, I'm going for a walk."

"Natsumi..." Tsuande said.

"The mission was complete, Lady Hokage. I need to be alone now." Without looking to see if the woman nodded, Natsumi began to walk away, feeling like a ghost -- seen, noticed, but then forgotten quickly and left alone.

**~End Flashback~**

The sun was starting to rise, and Natsumi woke up and looked around. She sniffed the air, looking for her target's scent. She quickly woke up Naruto, Sakura, and Sai. Once they all were conscious enough, she said, "From here on out we need to mask our chakra so Karin will not notice us as too quickly. It seems like our target has slowed down as well."

Naruto and Sakura sat up and nodded. They, along with Sai, began to clean up camp while Natsumi pondered on something. All three were ready, and they stared at their leader. "Natsumi," Sakura said, "are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm going to go ahead as a wolf and see what's up. Do not get close to Team Falcon without my permission. One of the members is unstable and can go on a killing spree in at any moment." Everyone nodded, and Natsumi nodded back. She then morphed into a reddish-brown wolf before their eyes.

"How did…" Naruto started.

"I can shape-shift as a kekke-genkai," the wolf said. "Stay behind me, got it?"

"Hai!" said the three. The wolf looked at Sai.

"Do you think you can make several birds to help scope out the area?"

Sai nodded. He pulled out his scroll, inkpad, and brush. He quickly drew four birds and then made a hand sign. The drawings quivered, and all four birds flew off the page and into the trees. Natsumi nodded in thanks and ran after the ink birds. Naruto, Sai, and Sakura waited ten seconds before following the wolf.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Remind me where the hell we're going, Sasuke?" asked a boy with silvery white hair. He looked around the area as they walked.

"We're finding a new place to stay, Suigetsu," a girl with bright red hair and black glasses said. "Remember we were almost caught last time? They found out where we stayed. So, we need to find a new spot where they can't find us."

"I was asking Mr. Stick-up-his-butt, not you, Ugly."

"Why you little…"

"Shut up, both of you," Sasuke ordered.

Both Suigetsu and Karin stopped arguing, but still gave each other death glares. The other member, Juugo, shook his head at his two comrades' immaturity. He looked around the forest sides as they walked. Everyone else was mainly keeping their eyes ahead of them, not seeming to be worried about anything. Juugo was still looking around, seeming observant to nature, which he was but also to danger. A few minutes passed, and Suigetsu, who was walking alongside Juugo, sighed.

"I'm bored," Suigetsu said. "Are we there yet?" The white haired boy stared at the back of his "leader".

"Hn," was all the reply he got from the Uchiha. Suigetsu sighed again and rested his hand on the hilt of his large sword. His grip tightened and loosened as they walked. Finally he snapped.

"I wanna cut something. I need a battle damn it!!"

"Shut up Suigetsu," Karin said. Suigetsu grumbled to himself, and Karin frowned and stuck a tongue at him, knowing he was talking about her. The boy then froze, listening to his surroundings. Karin quickly made a hand-sign and checked all chakra signatures within a five mile radius. "There's a few animals, nothing else Suigetsu."

"I swear that something is stalking us." He looked toward the bushes. Then he resumed walking alongside Juugo. Everyone continued to walk as well, yet they quickened their pace just a little bit.

Sasuke also believed that someone was following them. He didn't exactly sense the enemy, but he had the gut feeling there were indeed eyes on them. The Uchiha sped up into a small run. "We're losing daylight, hurry up."

Karin quickly trotted after Sasuke, and Suigetsu rolled his eyes at his fan-girl of a comrade. The white haired shinobi sped up anyway as well as Juugo. Juugo was staring at a particular direction as they walked, and Suigetsu noticed that out of the corner of his eye.

"What are you staring at Juugo?" Suigetsu asked after some silence.

"There is a wolf following us," the large man replied in a quiet voice. Weird?

"Got any idea why?"

"It looks like it's after Karin…"

Suigetsu's large, mischievous grin came across his face. "I say we take a break, ditch Karin while 'scanning the area', and then let wolf have her." When Juugo looked at him with a certain stare, Suigetsu responded, "Kidding – though I wish we could though…"

"The wolf left," Juugo stated.

"Huh, I wonder what it wanted."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Natsumi trotted away from Team Falcon and back to her comrades. When they met, the wolf began to trot beside them. "Day two and we already have sight of them," the wolf said.

"Sweet!" Naruto said. "When do we snatch Sasuke?"

"Easier said than done Naruto." Natsumi looked ahead. "We might have to wait 'till nightfall. Then we'll get the female of the group as bait that they'll hopefully take."

"Hopefully?" Sakura asked.

"She sounds like a nuisance that they wanna get rid of."

"Oh."

Sai interrupted the conversation. "Team Falcon has begun to run." Everyone nodded and began running as well. Natsumi turned back into her human form and resumed running with her teammates. "We're approximately fifty yards from them now." They slowed slightly and kept at that pace.

It was noon when the target and pursuers stopped for a break. The Konoha ninja stopped by a creek to rest. Sakura took off her sandals and dipped her feet into the cool water. Natsumi looked around the area while Naruto and Sai sat down on the grass. "I'm going to check it out," Natsumi said. She ran into the bushes and transformed into a small bird. She flitted about the trees until she perched on a high branch that was above the resting spot of Team Falcon.

Juugo was taking a nap while Suigetsu was sitting nearby with his sword lying next to him. Karin was examining her nails, and Sasuke was leaning back against a tree, quiet. The bird watched them for another minute before taking off back to her team. What the shape-shifting kunoichi didn't know was that Karin had sensed her chakra signature.

"They're just resting right now," Natsumi, in human form, reported.

"It's rather odd how they haven't noticed our presence yet," Sakura said. "You'd think they would have by now."

"They may have noticed," Sai said. Naruto, Sakura, and Natsumi glanced his way. "I sent a bird after Natsumi-san, and the redhead of Team Falcon eyed Natsumi suspiciously. Then she concentrated on it and is currently talking to Sasuke-kun." He stood up. "They're moving."

"Alright," Natsumi said. "Let's move!"

"Hai!" All four dashed off after their target, which was gaining great distance from them every second.

* * *

It was night, and the four Konoha shinobi were going over their plan. They were going to take out Karin, get into the enemy camp, and lure Suigetsu and Juugo out of the area. Then they would have no one to get in the way of getting Sasuke. All of this sounded simple, but there were still variables in the equation – What if Karin gets the others' attention and brings them all with her to investigate? Take them on four-on-four. What if Juugo decides to go on a killing spree? Avoid him at all costs when he's in that stage. What if Sasuke refuses to come quietly, which is highly likely? Beat him senseless and drag him back to Konoha. What if this plan gets countered. Improvise.

"Everyone ready?" Natsumi asked.

Naruto, Sakura, and Sai nodded.

"Alright then. Here we go." The four approached the campsite of Team Falcon. They peeked from behind the bushes and saw Juugo sitting the farthest away from them staring at the stars. As they waited, the large blond man stood up and walked into his tent. A soft yawn came from the tent closest to them. Natsumi turned to face her teammates and nodded to them. They nodded in return and vanished. Natsumi focused a slight amount of her chakra and waited. When nothing happened Natsumi picked up a pebble and threw it at the tent only eight feet from her hiding spot.

The sound of fumbling told Natsumi that the woman was awake. Knowing ninja instinct, the Niikyo knew that Karin had sent out a web of chakra to investigate her surroundings. Natsumi began to walk casually away, slightly jogging. With her acute hearing, she knew that Karin was following her in what she thought was a silent fashion.

Natsumi then broke into a run, and Karin chased her, thinking that she spooked the Leaf ninja. Natsumi turned sharply around a thick patch of trees, and Karin pursued her.

Karin skidded to a halt when she was face-to-face with herself, but her reflection didn't have glasses or the same outfit as herself. "What the…" she started, but she was soon knocked out by Sakura from behind. The pinkette caught the redhead and set her down on the ground. Natsumi, who copied Karin's figure, walked over to the unconscious kunoichi and took her glasses and put them on.

"Good luck Natsumi-san," Sakura said.

Natsumi nodded. "Once I send Suigetsu and Juugo over here then you and the boys do your thing. I'll try to get Sasuke."

"Hai." Sakura picked up Karin and disappeared. The Karin look-alike walked back to camp. She stood by the tent for a second and drew a deep breath. Then she walked over to Juugo's tent. After a moment's hesitation, the redhead entered the tent. She looked at the large blond sleeping on his pallet.

"Juugo! Wake up!" Natsumi whispered loudly with Karin's voice. The man stirred in his sleep, and then one eye opened and stared at the redhead.

"What is it Karin?" Juugo asked.

Natsumi held back the successful smirk that tugged at the corners of her mouth. Instead, she answered in a worried tone, "The Leaf shinobi are close by. They managed to find us and are probably planning an attack so they can get Sasuke and arrest us. It also looks like they're ready to attack soon; their chakra levels are great, looks like it's at full capacity." Juugo sat bolt upright and stared at his "comrade" with wide eyes.

"Did you tell Sasuke?"

The woman shook her head. "I thought that you and Suigetsu could intercept them while I get Sasuke up and tell him so he can get away."

Juugo stared at her for a moment in hesitation. Then he answered, "Alright. You better get him out of here in time Karin."

"Do you honestly think that I would let those ninja come here and take my Sasuke-kun away from me?" Natsumi put her hands on her hips and frowned at the blond.

"No, you wouldn't." The man got up and headed out of the tent and mumbled, "Looks like Suigetsu gets a fight after all…" As he left the tent, the redhead followed him in suit. Juugo walked over to Suigetsu's tent and went inside. After he had woken up Suigetsu and got him out of bed, he walked over to Natsumi and asked, "Which way Karin?"

Natsumi pointed east. "They're over there. According to their chakra levels, they're still and asleep while one is on watch." Juugo nodded and he, followed by Suigetsu, ran off in that direction and disappeared. Natsumi smirked, and then she walked across the campsite to Sasuke's tent.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sasuke woke up to the sound of feet running through the campsite. He sat up on his pallet and listened, but the sound was gone. The Uchiha pulled out a kunai and got out of bed. He walked to the tent flap and pulled it aside and was face-to-face with Karin.

"Oh, you're up already," she said.

"Where are Suigetsu and Juugo?" Sasuke asked.

"They left to check the area out. I sensed unknown chakra signatures and sent them out to investigate." Karin's face looked somewhat different to the Uchiha, and the boy noticed that she wasn't looking him over like she usually did.

"Hn. Since when do you give orders to my team?"

Karin tensed. "I did what seemed to be the right thing to do, Sasuke-kun," she answered. She stared directly into his onyx eyes, and right then Sasuke knew that this wasn't Karin. He vaguely recognized the gaze though, but he disregarded that thought.

"Hn, that's different," Sasuke said. When the redhead tilted her head in question, he said, "You haven't noticed what I'm wearing."

"You're not wearing a shirt, I know." She then added, "I'm not blind."

"Is that a new outfit?"

Karin folded her arms and frowned. "You don't like it?" she asked in an innocent tone. Sasuke cringed inwardly – there's the real attitude. Still, it didn't sound right.

"You're acting strange, Karin."

"How so?"

Sasuke's mind stumbled. "You're…not acting like yourself…" He took a step back as she took a step toward him.

"Do you want me to be all over you?" She smirked. "All you have to do is ask, Sasuke-kun." The girl cornered him and closed the space between them so there was only an inch of air that kept their bodies from touching. Karin looked up at him from under her eyelashes.

Natsumi didn't like doing this kind of act, but it had to be done so she stays under the radar. Being this close and looking at Sasuke in such a way reminded her about the past, but she shook that thought away.

"Um…Karin, didn't you say that there were enemies lurking by?" Sasuke asked, trying to get her distracted.

"Yes, that's right," the redhead replied. "Want me to take you there?" She sounded relieved to be off that intimate moment, and that got Sasuke over the borderline of suspicion and into knowing that the person was an imposter. He quickly grabbed the girl and pushed her onto his pallet and held a wrist in each of his hands and pinned them over her head. He kneeled beside her and placed his left knee on the young woman's side to pin down her torso and used his leg to slightly hold down her legs. The girl gasped in surprise.

"Sasuke! What are you--?"

"Who are you?" the Uchiha growled. "What did you do to my team?" The redhead under him stared blankly, but then she chuckled darkly when his gaze hardened in attempt to scare her.

"Why would you care about them?" the look-alike asked. "I thought that you only needed them to take care of Itachi. Did you not kill him yet?"

"I don't care about them, and I still have unfinished business with the Leaf Village," the Uchiha replied. "Who are you?"

"You already know me." She winced when the boy put pressure on her ribs.

"Refresh my memory." Sasuke had now activated his Sharingan, trying to see through the kunoichi's jutsu. He was taken aback by the result of nothing – it was either a Forbidden Jutsu or this was Karin, but under a jutsu's control.

The redhead stared right back at him and smirked. "I'm leaving it up to you to recall." She suddenly pulled her leg free and kicked the back of the Uchiha's head roughly, and while his focus was broken, the imposter threw him off her and stood up. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be going."

Sasuke seized her left ankle and pulled, causing the girl to fall forward onto the ground. "Not so fast," he said.

"Let me go!" Natsumi attempted to kick the Uchiha with her free leg, but he caught that too. She turned sideways and punched the air in Sasuke's direction, which he thought was pathetic until he notice fire was being shot at him. He quickly let go of the girl to dodge roll. Natsumi got up and ran out of the tent.

Sasuke got up and ran after her. He threw a kunai, which the redhead dodged with ease. After three more kunai, the imposter turned around and shot several fireballs at the young man, who jumped into the air to dodge them. He pulled out his katana and brought it down. Natsumi had pulled out her own katana and blocked his attack with a loud clang. Sasuke landed and the two engaged in a swordfight. With a thunderous clang, Natsumi's katana broken in half. She cursed, tossed the other half away, and flipped back several feet to dodge Sasuke's blade. She shot fire at him, and he dodged them, ran towards her and took swings at her. She moved impressively fast, and the Uchiha smirked.

This girl is pretty good… he thought. Sasuke let his guard down, and the redhead kicked his hand and disarmed him. The boy's katana flew four feet to the left. The two commenced in hand-to-hand, chakra infused combat. Both took and landed multiple hits on the other. As they fought, the two inched toward the katana. Sasuke dove for the sword, but the katana flew past him and into the Karin look-alike's hand.

"Thank you chakra strings," Natsumi said. She stood up and held the sword out. She tossed the glasses that she wore and waited for Sasuke's attack, the sword out and ready to block.

She shouldn't hesitate. The boy quickly made hand-signs and summoned lightning natured chakra in his right hand.

Natsumi stared in shock. He'd actually use Chidori on me?! she thought. Then she answered herself, Of course he would! He doesn't remember you! While doing that, Natsumi didn't move until Sasuke took off in her direction at great speed. Damn it! The redhead quickly jumped to her left at the last couple of seconds before feeling the shock and the pain of the Chidori. She screamed in agony and fell onto her side when the Uchiha pulled his hand out of her chest.

Sasuke stood over her, glaring down at her with the crimson eyes of the Sharingan. "Heh, you're pretty fast," he said. "You made me miss your heart. I could fix that easily though." The Uchiha took the katana from the girl's hand and held it up, the blade's tip pointing at her heart.

"Please…" a soft voice said, "don't…Sasuke-kun…" The Uchiha stared down at the dying girl, and she looked different. Her facial features changed a bit, but she still had the same bright red hair. The young woman's eyes were now a pure gold. Her pleading turned into coughs and gasps for air.

The katana came down anyway.

The young woman looked to her left and saw that the katana was stuck in the ground beside her. She smiled weakly while Sasuke's emotionless mask broke for a second to reveal his confusion about his choice. The girl whispered a weak "thank you", and then she closed her eyes. Sasuke stared at her, wondering why he spared her. Yes, she's probably going to die anyway from blood loss, but still. He remembered those eyes, and that voice, from somewhere. The only problem about that was where? And when?

Sasuke turned his head to the sound of his name, and then he heard a familiar voice call out, "Teme!" Suigetsu emerges from the trees along with Juugo carrying the real Karin, who was unconscious.

"Let's get outta here!" Suigetsu said. Sasuke gave a small nod and pulled out his katana out of the dirt and into its sheath. The four vanished when Naruto, Sakura, and Sai came out of the bushes in pursuit. They all saw Natsumi ten yards away, bleeding to death.

"Natsumi!" gasped Naruto.

Sakura sped over to her comrade and saw the wound on her chest. She placed her hand over the injury and began to heal it. Naruto and Sai walked over to the two kunoichi. Naruto spotted Natsumi's broken katana several yards away and ran over there to get it. By the time he got back Sai was helping Sakura carry Natsumi toward the abandoned tents. When the pinkette walked out of the tent a few minutes later, Naruto walked over to her and asked, "What happened to her?"

"She was hit by Chidori," Sakura answered. "It nearly took out her right lung. Luckily we got here in time." She noticed Naruto's fists clench, and she looked at his face.

"Sasuke is really going too far," he growled. "He didn't even know Natsumi! That doesn't give him the right to kill her! He doesn't even know what Natsumi has done to make her deserve to be killed."

"Naruto…"

"What Sakura-chan?" The boy's voice was still heated and loud.

"Keep it down, Natsumi needs to rest." She stared at the blond, who in turn nodded and walked to where Sai was. Sakura followed him and sat down by the small fire that Sai started.

"I still can't believe that Teme did that," Naruto muttered.

Sai glanced over at the grumbling Naruto. The boy then looked up at the sky and said, "Didn't Natsumi say that you, Sakura, and Sasuke had known her before?" Naruto's murmuring ceased and that about that.

"Yeah, she did mention it…but I wonder why we don't remember her."

"We can try asking her later," Sai suggested.

"We'll have to let her rest first," Sakura said. "She's taken a nearly fatal blow to the chest. I think that Sasuke was aiming for her heart, but Natsumi moved just in time for it to miss."

"That kind of explains the broken katana," Naruto said. He glanced over at the two pieces of sword that lay before the fire. They would repair Natsumi's katana when they got back from their mission. "I hope Natsumi will be okay." Sakura and Sai nodded and remained quiet, letting their silence help Natsumi rest to recover from her injury caused by the person that they've been after for years.

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I hope you guys liked the first chapter. I tried to give you guys a lot to read for the first chunk. Please review! Thanks!


	2. Chapter 2

I know that I made several errors in the first chapter. I didn't notice them until I published it. So I apologize for that inconvinence. Here's chapter 2.

_Thoughts_; **_Dreams_**

PS: I do not own Naruto

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_**The Niikyo clan estate was rather quiet for noontime. A family emerged from the largest of the houses and began to walk toward the gates of the family compound. The four exited the estate, and a pair of twins chased one another in circles around their parents as they walked. The two little girls giggled and shouted while their parents just watched as the whole family walked to the Uchiha estate.**_

_**"I'm gonna getcha Nat!" hollered a little red haired girl.**_

_**"Oh no you're not May!" little Natsumi answered. The twins giggled as they chased each other faster. Finally the parents intervened.**_

_**"Alright girls don't kill off all your energy," said a tall man with brown-red hair. "You still want energy to be able to play with your friends right?"**_

_**"Hai Tou-san!" the twins chimed. A woman with long, bright red hair smiled brightly at her two daughters.**_

_**"Don't forget the lady training you have with Mistress, Natsumi," she said.**_

_**Natsumi sighed, "Hai Kaa-san." With her being the eldest of the Niikyo clan's head family, she had to take "lady training" to be a proper woman. Natsumi didn't like lady training – it was so boring and dull, not to mention how limited your "fun" was. In addition, Mistress loved to lecture and monologue. The girl was only seven for goodness sake! Sure, Niikyos mature and learn faster than the normal person, but Natsumi was still a kid who wanted to have fun. When Natsumi saw the gates of the Uchiha estate she saw two figures (one small and one big) standing there. She immediately recognized the two and dashed toward them.**_

_**"Natsumi! Wait up!" cried her twin sister, Mayume Niikyo. The girl ran after her sister, who was already half way there. Mayume saw the girl glomp (tackle hug) the smaller figure and they both fell over.**_

_**"Sasuke-kun!" Natsumi cried. She then realized that she was on top of him. "Oops, sorry." She got off of him and offered a hand to help him up.**_

_**The boy took it. "Must you always glomp me like that?" Sasuke asked. Even though his voice sounded annoyed, he had his famous smirk on his face.**_

_**"I'm sorry, but I got too excited." Natsumi pulled Sasuke up, let go of his hand, and put her hands behind her head and grinned.**_

_**"Natsumi!" a woman's voice called.**_

**_Both said girl and Sasuke cringed at the voice. "Damn…" Natsumi mumbled. They looked over to the first house and saw an old woman in a dark grey dress standing by the railing on the porch. Her black-and-grey hair was tied up securely in a bun. She stared at the young redhead with a critical eye, and Natsumi looked down at her sunshine yellow dress to see dirt on it._ **_So much for a good lesson today…**Natsumi thought.**_

_**"Miss Niikyo!" Mistress barked. "You are late and dirty. How can you forget to control yourself? Not being able to do so will--"**_

_**"I know Mistress. 'It will promote bad choices and jeopardize the clan's survival."**_

_**"Do not answer me in that ungrateful tone! You are lucky that I even consideredteaching you!" Mistress stood up straighter and glared at Natsumi. Natsumi felt Sasuke scoot closer to her, and she looked in his direction. His eyes were glaring at Mistress, but she didn't seem to notice.**_

_**'Natsumi,' Mayume thought-spoke. 'Sasuke's thinking about telling Mistress off and possibly trying a few ninja moves on her.' Natsumi discreetly nodded to her sister and touched Sasuke's hand.**_

_**When the boy glanced at her, she whispered, "I'll be fine. She does this all the time."**_

_**"That doesn't help Nat," he answered in the same quiet tone she was using.**_

_**"Sasuke-kun, it's okay. She's all bark and no bite." She gave him and assuring smile. "I got to go now." Natsumi walked over to the stairs that led to the porch where her teacher was waiting. She took one last look at Sasuke, Mayume, her mother and father, and even took notice of Itachi before walking into the house followed by the old woman.**_

The dream ended there when Natsumi finally gained enough strength to open her eyes. That dream, or rather memory, was one of the times when Sasuke was actually nice to her and cared. She missed those days with her clan and the Uchiha clan. The Niikyos and the Uchihas were fairly close, and it was rather fun to hang out over there with them. Ever since the massacre of both their clans, Sasuke had completely forgotten them. Natsumi knew that it was due to mental trauma, and it was depressing.

A movement by the tent flap broke Natsumi from her thoughts. On instinct, Natsumi sat bolt upright and got into a defensive position. A pain stabbed her in the right shoulder, and her left hand grabbed it and she cursed under breath. She looked up to see Sakura.

"Don't move like that," she said. "That only opens up the wound."

"Sorry Sakura-san," Natsumi replied. The pink haired kunoichi walked over to her and placed her hand on the bandaged shoulder of her comrade. A green chakra emanated from Sakura's hand and started healing the wound. "You were lucky we got to you when we did. You were suffering from blood loss."

"Thanks Sakura. How long is this injury going to hold us back?"

"Three days so you can be able to do things more freely."

Natsumi nodded. "Am I allowed to go outside?"

"Sure." Natsumi swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up. She put on her sandals and walked outside. She spotted Naruto and Sai sitting by the fire, and Naruto spotted her as well.

His face brightened a little. "Natsumi, you're up!"

"Yeah…" Natsumi sat down and asked, "They got away?"

Naruto looked down in somewhat shame. "Yeah, sorry about that."

"It's fine Naruto. We still have time left." She looked at the fire and saw her katana lying on the ground on two pieces. She reached out with her left arm and picked up the pieces, put them in her lap and stared at them. "I'll fix this later, when my arm's better that is," she said.

There was some silence following that. The fire crackled as it munched on the gathered twigs and branches the ninja tossed in to feed it. A few more minutes of quiet passed, and then Naruto broke the silence. "Natsumi, how come Sakura and I don't remember you?" he asked. He, Sakura, and Sai stared at Natsumi as she gazed into the fire.

"Do you remember the mission where you and Sakura were ambushed?" she asked. When both Naruto and Sakura nodded she continued, "I was on that mission with you. When we were ambushed they separated me from you two and took your memories. Either they took those memories of me away or they were just destroyed in the process

"We haven't figured out what exact memories that you could possess that an enemy would want though. I really wanted to help you two get your memories back, and I decided that the best thing to do is not try to remind you about me because it would only confuse you."

"I see…" Naruto said.

"But how could they have known you so well?" Sai asked. "Before, you said that Naruto should've known that you have a more natural acute sense of smell. How would they have known, especially Sasuke-kun? Did you guys meet before?"

"We went on a mission together as Genin," Natsumi answered. "I do believe that Sasuke has mostly forgotten about me, but there's still some memories in his head."

Naruto questioned that statement, his tone a bit angry. "How? He was going to kill you!"

"But he didn't. He was going to stab me in the heart, Naruto. My disguise wore off and he seemed to have recognized me, even in the very least, and didn't kill me."

"He could've been just caught off guard and missed."

"I saw the look in his eyes Naruto!" Natsumi shouted. She was not in the mood to argue over this at all. "I saw the old Sasuke for a second."

"How would you know about the old Sasuke?" Sakura asked. "Just because you went on a mission with us one time doesn't make you know us all inside and out."

"I have known him longer than the two of you. My clan and his clan were great friends! I used to go over to his place and we would just hang out, run around, and have fun…" The young woman's voice became softer. "I knew him. He used to be different than the Sasuke you guys met as Genin."

Naruto crossed his arms. "I doubt that," he mumbled. Natsumi rolled her eyes and stared into the fire. She then looked up at the sky.

"The sun will be up soon," she said. "You guys better go get some rest. I'll keep watch."

The past argument was totally forgotten by Naruto as he made his answer to Natsumi's suggestion. "No way!" he said. "You need the rest Natsumi." He looked over at Sakura, who nodded in agreement with his objection.

"I'll be fine. As long as the fire is going, I won't be defenseless." She smirked. "Besides, I'm not the one with bags under my eyes." She looked at the two Leaf shinobi. Both of them had circles under their eyes, and Natsumi figured that they just mainly never got much sleep. With their battle with the three of Team Falcon, they probably had used a great amount of chakra, especially Sakura, who was the medic of the team along with her use of chakra to enhance her physical attacks. Sakura had noticed Natsumi's critical eye, and she understood her reasoning.

Sakura stood up. "Alright Natsumi-san," she said. "We'll rest for two hours tops. Don't strain yourself by doing unnecessary things, and if you do get tired, then just wake one of us up, okay?"

Naruto looked at Sakura in slight disbelief. _She's letting a recovering teammate watch over camp?_he thought. Then he saw Sakura look at him with the gaze that said that it had to be done, and he sighed, "Hai, you better not hold back on waking us up when it's necessary Nat."

"You know that I would wake you up when I need you guys," Natsumi said. She gave them both an assuring smile, and they smiled back. Sakura walked over to Karin's old tent and went inside while Naruto went into Suigetsu's abandoned tent. Natsumi looked over at Sai, who was drawing in his small sketchbook.

"I slept a while ago," he stated.

"Ah." Natsumi stared up at the starts and wondered,_ Does Sasuke actually remember me?_

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

_**The Uchiha estate was boring as usual, and Sasuke was walking around the place. The little boy heard sobbing and stopped to listen. Curious, he decided to follow the sound to see who was crying. He found himself at a water fountain, and he saw a girl about his age (seven) with long red hair and a bright yellow dress sitting on the edge of the fountain. She was staring into the rippling water the fountain was recycling. Her sobs became a bit quieter even though her body still shook with her uneven intake of breath. Sasuke then noticed the girl's arms, which had large, red or purple spots on them. He stared at his friend for a moment, caught off guard about her injuries. He knew that Natsumi was perfectly fine when she went into the house for her lady training with Mistress, and now…**_

_**Sasuke clenched his fists. Anger was swelling inside of him, and he marched over to the girl by the fountain and touched her shoulder. Little Natsumi turned around and stared at the young Sasuke with wide eyes. She stammered, "S-sasuke-kun…what are you…"**_

_**The Uchiha cut her off. "Did she hurt you?" he asked. He stared intently at his friend, and she looked away, a tear rolling down her cheek. She quickly wiped it away with her forearm, unknowingly giving Sasuke a better look at her bruises and sore spots.**_

_**"It was part of the lesson, Sasuke…" she said in a choked voice. She was pulling her arm back down to her side when Sasuke grabbed it, carefully, and held it in front her eyes, keeping it in her field of vision. He, too, stared at it.**_

_**"How is this part of lady training?!" he asked in a harsh tone. "How is being beaten till you're red and bruised part of it?! This isn't lady training, Natsumi, this is abuse!" The flames of his anger became stronger with what he was saying. "I'm going to tell my father that what Mistress is doing to you is against what we should be doing to our clan ally." Sasuke turned around and started to walk away.**_

_**A hand grabbed the back of his shirt. The young Uchiha turned around and saw the girl holding the fabric of his shirt. She stared at him with pleading eyes, her irises quivering like a pool of liquid gold. "Please don't…Sasuke-kun," she squeaked.**_

_**"Why not?" he questioned, his tone still heated from his anger.**_

_**"It was my fault she hit me. I…I accidentally told her that I was going under ninja training. It was…against her teachings…and she got mad." The girl closed her eyes to blink back tears, but instead she cringed from, what Sasuke thought, was the memory of Mistress's rage.**_

_**"Natsumi…" the boy whispered. "Nat, you shouldn't have to go through getting beaten like that. I can tell my father to tell Mistress to allow you to do both trainings."**_

_**The girl shook her head. "She won't allow it. She already warned me – if she finds me doing ninja training, anything related to the teachings, she won't teach me at all." Natsumi stared at Sasuke with a determined gaze. "I am the heiress of the Niikyo clan. I need to know all this proper stuff and such, and I can't risk losing that training."**_

_**"But you're a ninja clan Natsumi! Don't you realize that?" He saw Natsumi falter and stare at him with sad eyes. "Just because you're going to be the Lady of the Niikyo clan doesn't mean you have to sit around and be a rich person. That's just not you! If you continue to be a ninja, you would do your clan good! You could lead them! If I tell my father, then it will happen." Natsumi tightened her grip on Sasuke's shirt, which made the boy notice the cuts on her hands.**_

_**"Did Mistress whip your hands?!" he gasped. He quickly took her hand and examined it.**_

_**"No…that's from tai-jutsu training with the wooden dummy," Natsumi answered. The Uchiha saw her tears returning. Without thinking, Sasuke pulled her into a hug, and the two sank down to the ground and sat on both knees. The little girl began to sob all over again, and he kept his arms around her and let her cry.**_

_**"It's okay…" he said.**_

_**"Thank you…Sasuke-kun…" Natsumi whispered. After a minute she slumped and was fully leaning on the young Sasuke, asleep.**_

_Hn. She's really tired…**Sasuke thought.**_

The dream/memory ended there since the sound of Suigetsu and Karin's arguing broke through Sasuke's consciousness. Sasuke woke up and began to wonder about that dream, but then he heard Karin, much to his dislike.

"Sasuke-kun! Good morning!" she chimed.

Suigetsu huffed and said, "We better get moving, get as much distance between us and those Leaf ninja."

"Hn, good idea, let's move."

"Hai!" said Karin, Suigetsu and Juugo. The four began to run.

"I still can't believe we had to ditch our stuff," Karin said. Suigetsu rolled his eyes.

He stated, "You were taken out so easily Ugly. Sad, but totally understandable."

"Oh shut up! You were fooled too!"

"I was dragged along by Juugo; he was the one who was fooled!"

"Haven't you heard of the saying 'who's more foolish: the fool or the fool who follows him'? I say it's the fool who follows, A.K.A: you."

"Slut!"

"Freak!"

"Shut up both of you!" snapped Sasuke. The bickerers stared at their leader, taken aback by the anger he used in silencing them. Sasuke was trying to figure out the mystery of that girl, Natsumi, and their fighting was not helping his developing headache.

Why did he spare her? Why was she in his memories?

"Sasuke-kun, why are you stopping?" Karin asked. The Uchiha was unaware that he had stopped while thinking about the red-haired Leaf kunoichi. "Sasuke-kun?" she repeated.

"Hurry up," Sasuke said to cover up his thoughts. "You're all being slow." The three followers nodded and ran after him when he continued to run.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Natsumi was moving her right had up and down, and the flames of the campfire followed obediently. Her hand moved to the side; the flames moved toward her hand and licked it. She was having the fire do her bidding as practice with her injured shoulder. Sai was drawing in his small book, and he glanced up at Natsumi's practicing.

"Jutsu?" he asked.

"Kekke-genkai to be exact," Natsumi replied. She held her hand in place while the flames licked her fingers.

"Doesn't that burn?"

"After some time, yes." The kunoichi raised her hand, and the fire followed. "My clan can take on specifics of nature's extremes depending on the element they can use."

Sai raised an eyebrow slightly. "Extremes?" he questioned.

"Hai. Those with the element of fire can withstand high temperatures; water manipulators can withstand low temperatures. Earth benders can last through extreme physical pressure, and air benders can hold their breath for long periods of time as well as breathe easily in high altitudes."

"Oh, so your clan has more than one trait?"

Natsumi nodded. "Naruto, Sakura, I know you two are awake and listening," she said still gazing in to the fire. "Why don't you come out and listen up front?" There was the sound of footsteps, and both Sakura and Naruto came by the fire and sat down. "Why hide and eavesdrop when we're teammates?"

"I don't know," Naruto said. "So how does your clan have more than one trait?" he asked.

"Well, the Niikyo clan is the result of two clans that joined many, many years ago. One clan had the ability to shape-shift while the other had the power to control the elements."

"Ohh…"

"Hey, Sakura, can you check the wound? I think it is healed enough for me to move more."

"Sure," Sakura said. She walked over to Natsumi and placed her hand on the girl's bandaged shoulder and inserted chakra to check the wound. She held her hand there for a minute, then pulled it away. "It looks like you'll be able to travel," she reported.

"Great!" Natsumi said.

Naruto was surprised. "I thought it would take longer to heal," he said. "Her healing time is like mine with the Kyuubi."

"That's another thing…I heal a bit quicker and mature faster than the average person." She smiled a bit shyly at her comrades.

"Your clan sounds very powerful," Sakura said. "How come we have never heard of it?" Natsumi frowned and stared into the fire.

She answered in a whisper, "They were murdered."

"What?!" Naruto and Sakura said. Sai just stared at the three with his eyes slightly wide. "All of them?" Naruto asked. "The entire clan?!"

Natsumi nodded. "With the exception of me and my twin sister, that is."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Sakura said. "When did it happen?"

"When I was seven, my clan was killed along with the Uchiha clan."

"Really? Then why haven't we heard of you?"

"The Third Hokage didn't want to alarm the village that two entire clans, with the exception of the youngest of each, were massacred. He took care of Sasuke more noticeably while Mayume, my sister, and I went into hiding. I kept close to the village while Mayume was adopted by some women who happened to have found her in the forest."

"I see…" Sakura said. Natsumi nodded and continued staring into the fire. Naruto stared at his comrade, as did Sakura and Sai.

"You were forgotten, and then shunned when you came back right?" Naruto asked.

"That's right," Natsumi said. "I thought I didn't need anyone, yet I still cared for my team. When I met you guys," the redhead looked at Naruto and Sakura, "I saw the friendship between you three. It may not have looked like much, but all three of you were happy with each other's company."

Naruto thought for a moment, and then he questioned, "What was that mission we went with you as Genin?"

"It was to escort a princess to Konoha; it was a princess from the Flower Country." Natsumi sighed, "Those were the days. I remember how all of you were surprised by my joining with you on the mission. Sakura, you even challenged me to a fight."

"I did?" the pinkette asked.

"Who won?" Naruto asked.

Natsumi laughed at the eager look on Naruto's face. She then replied, "I did, but Sakura could've beaten me if her head was clear."

"Right, right."

"What's that supposed to mean, Naruto?" asked Sakura.

"I didn't mean it like – Ow! Sakura-chan…" Naruto rubbed the top of his head. "So, what do we do now?"

Natsumi thought for a moment. "Two or all of you can go on ahead and track Tea Falcon. I'll be fine here."

"We can't leave you! You're a teammate!"

"I have guardians to keep an eye on me."

"Who?"

The fire stirred, and all four shinobi stared at it. It sizzled, and then two large golden eyes glowed from within the flames. The flames materialized into coils, and a dark red dragon head poked out of the fire. The dragon's claws pulled its serpentine body out of the flames and it stood before them. The dragon stood only two feet tall and was four feet long. Its eyes glanced around at the faces, and then it bowed.

"Naruto, Sakura, Sai, this is one of my guardian dragons, Kiyara," Natsumi introduced.

The dragon nodded its head and spoke in a femenine voice, "Greetings."

"Uh…hi," Sakura said. She looked at Natsumi. "Did you summon her?"

"She comes and goes as she pleases," the red haired kunoichi said. "You guys can go on ahead and try to catch Sasuke. I'll be right behind you. I can even ride my dragon so I can cut Team Falcon off."

"That could work," Sai said.

Naruto tried to reason with Natsumi. "You'll be able to travel tomorrow Natsumi, so we'll stay here." Natsumi put her left hand on her hip.

"Huh, I thought that you'd be the most excited one, Naruto. What happened?"

"Sasuke is stronger now. I don't want any of my friends to get hurt.

If someone is going then it'll be me and that's it."

"Naruto," Sakura said, "if you're going then I'm going too. Sasuke-kun is a friend, and you would need help distracting the other three in his team."

The dragon, Kiyara, nodded. "Lady Natsumi would be able to do just that, as will I." She looked at Natsumi, who also nodded.

"And with Sai's art ninjutsu, we will have a great distraction and maybe even get a good fight out of them," Natsumi said as she glanced to her left at the said man. Sai gave his usual fake smile and nodded in agreement.

"So," Sai said. "When do we leave? It's the middle of the day right now."

"We should start pursuing now," Natsumi answered. "They got pretty far already, and their scent is slightly fading. If my wound was a bit more healed then I would transform into a tracking animal."

"Are you going to run, my lady?" Kiyara asked.

"For now, yes. When it gets too dark it would be best for me to ride."

The dragon nodded. "As you wish. Shall I remain close by?"

"Whatever you like Kiyara," Natsumi said. The dark red dragon nodded once more and, quite suddenly, started to shrink. At first the size changing process was slow, but then it sped up to a blink of an eye. Kiyara, who was now only five inches long, flew over to Natsumi. The kunoichi held out her right arm, and Kiyara wrapped around Natsumi's wrist and became still.

"What just happened?" Sakura wondered aloud.

"Kiyara shrank – dragons like her can do that – and became a bracelet." Natsumi then gestured toward the tents. "Shall we leave all of this here or what?"

Sakura replied, "I think we should leave it. We need to travel light."

"Alright then, let's get going." Natsumi stood up, grabbed her backpack, slung it over her left shoulder and started walking. Naruto put out the fire and followed her. Sai and Sakura gathered their things and followed as well.

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Uh-oh, they're still going after him. What will happen next? What is Sasuke gonna do about these confusing dreams? Find out in the next chapter!!

Please REVIEW. I need the inspiration and know that there are people out there who want to read this story. Much appreciated if you do.

See you all in the next chapter!! Seriously, review. Even a good job is good enough! It's not that hard...is it?


	3. Chapter 3

Team Falcon was taking a break from their traveling. Suigetsu looked around the surrounding area and leaned back against a tree. Everyone else sat down or leaned against something and was quiet. After several minutes of silence, Sasuke glanced at Karin, who replied, "They aren't following."

"Ha-ha, they gave up," Suigetsu laughed. "They weren't that tough. We could've taken them on easy, but Juugo ran out on the fun."

"A teammate is more important than a battle," Juugo said. Even though he said that Sasuke and Suigetsu knew that he was just as annoyed with Karin as they were.

"So, are we almost there?" Suigetsu asked the Uchiha.

"If I say yes will you quit whining?"

"I'll take that as a yes."

Karin crossed her arms, frowning in thought. "That girl who impersonated me, what did she really look like?" She glanced at Sasuke. The young man saw through her calm tone and knew that she was asking so she could strangle the girl when she got the chance. Sasuke could care less on what happened to that girl, but he had a feeling that she could beat Karin easily – that Natsumi girl was troublesome to him during their last battle.

"Red hair, gold eyes," the Uchiha finally answered. He saw Karin nod her head, obviously not noting how long it took for him to "recall" the enemy's face. _She's probably thinking that I had to remember because I didn't pay much attention,_Sasuke thought. After he thought that he got confused. _Wait a minute. I just said that I did remember what she looked like easily. Well, she's been in my head lately…oh just shut up Sasuke, forget her._ The boy didn't hear Karin's question.

"Sasuke-kun," Karin said a bit louder.

The boy looked at her, showing that she had is attention.

"Did she use a Transformation Jutsu?" she asked.

"It didn't look like a Transformation Jutsu. There was no smoke when she went back to her normal self."

"Then what could it be?" Suigetsu asked.

"A blood trait would be my guess," Sasuke said.

Karin frowned. "I don't recall hearing or reading about a clan from the Hidden Leaf Village with shape-shifting," she said.

Sasuke thought about it for a bit. The girl was in some distant memory of his. If he could recall them, maybe he'd find out more about her. Obviously he couldn't tell his group – they would bombard him with questions that he would not know the answer to, and they were annoying enough already. _Man, 'Natsumi' is getting very annoying,_ he thought. Then he said, "Let's go, we're almost there." Team Falcon began to run.

"I have a feeling that those Konoha ninja didn't give up," Juugo said.

"It's been at least two days!" Suigetsu exclaimed. "They must've given up by now. We even teleported once to kill our scent trail!"

"I know all that Suigetsu, but I just have a gut feeling about it."

"Well, don't, and I don't think that Ugly or The Stiff have that feeling. Am I right?"

"I don't sense their chakra," Karin said.

"Hn," was all Sasuke said.

"See?" Suigetsu spoke in a tone used for telling to a two-year old that there are no monsters in the dark. Then his tone went hard, "You're feeling has been overruled." Juugo did not reply and kept quiet. The following twenty minutes passed in silence, and then Suigetsu cracked a joke about Karin's figure. The two commenced in a name fight for ten minutes after that. Sasuke rolled his eyes and ignored them. After a few more minutes the Uchiha stopped, and Karin and Suigetsu's argument ceased.

There was a small cabin a few feet away. It was mostly hidden from the surrounding trees and plants. Team Falcon walked up to the cabin, and Sasuke reached for the handle. The locked click in recognition of his chakra signature, and he opened the door. Team Falcon walked inside and Karin flopped onto the couch.

"Wow, this looks like a good place to stay," she commented. Suigetsu sat down in a chair.

"Someone's gonna have to go to the market and buy some food for this place," Suigetsu said. He glanced at the redhead.

"Why me?"

"No one really recognizes you. Plus they would give you what you want so they don't see your ugliness any longer."

Karin huffed. "I'm only going so I can be away from you." She stood up and walked to the door. She then looked at Sasuke, who was just standing by the hallway, leaning back against the wall. "I'll be back Sasuke-kun," she said in a sweet tone.

Sasuke didn't reply and disappeared into the hallway. He walked to the last room down the hallway and went inside. He then sat down on the bed and started to think. The Uchiha was struggling to remember how he knew the girl, Natsumi. All he saw of a memory that concerned Natsumi was the one that was "most reccent": Natsumi lying down on the ground, bleeding to death from his Chidori. Her eyes looked like she was not only pleading, he figured, but they also looked disappointed in him. _Who is she? _he thought. He tried to concentrate and sort through his thoughts, looking for anything in his past that related to her. After no such luck, Sasuke growled in frustration and flopped onto his back onto the mattress and stared at the ceiling. He closed his eyes to rest them and his throbbing brain, and eventually he fell asleep.

_**The Uchiha was a Genin again, and he was walking through the streets of Konoha. Everything seemed like as it usually was, and he walked aimlessly and bored. After several minutes, he heard the squeal of fangirls. Sasuke glanced behind him and saw several girls about twenty yards away. Once he noticed them running, he took off. **I can easily shake them off **he thought. The Uchiha took random turns and kept the fifteen yards between him and the fangirls that were chasing him. Slowly, the group of girls were closing in. Sasuke ran a bit faster, but then he was suddenly seized by his right arm and yanked into an alleyway. "What the--" he said, but he was cut off by a person shushing him.**_

**_"Hurry, let's move," the light voice said. Sasuke figured that the person was a girl, and that made him a bit tense. He tried to pull away, but the girl dragged him along down the alley. After several more failed attempts of getting away, the girl told the boy, "Keep struggling and they'll catch you. They're closing in."_**

**_Sasuke looked behind them and saw the group of fangirls running after them, shouting "Give us Sasuke-kun!!" and "You greedy person!", which Sasuke knew was the girl who was supposedly helping him. A tug from the girl made Sasuke turn and look ahead of them, where a wall was coming up fast toward them._**

_She's leading me into a trap!!**Sasuke thought.**_

**_"Get ready to climb the wall," the girl warned. The Uchiha thought about that for a moment, but then he remembered Kakashi's training and began to focus chakra into the soles of his shoes. He looked at the girl's feet, and they were glowing a faint blue. She sprinted full speed, or that's what Sasuke thought, to the wall; he sped up as well so he wouldn't get dragged. The last few yards the girl let go of his arm and let him run freely as she sped up once again and started running up the wall. Sasuke followed her in suit._**

**_The two jumped off the wall and flipped onto the roof of the building whose wall they climbed. Once the they were in the sun, Sasuke got a better look of the girl. She wore an olive green T-shirt along with matching baggy capris and hat. Her hair was hidden in her hat, but Sasuke saw a few stray strands of red hair. The girl did not turn to face him, but she talked anyway._**

**_"You should know your way from here. Good luck." The girl ran to the edge of the building and leaped onto the roof of the next. Once she disappeared out of sight, the Uchiha looked down into the alley where they were._**

_Why did she even drag me up here?**Sasuke thought. His question was answered when he saw another group of fangirls walk into the alley, and the first group apologize for their failure. He strained his ears to listen to their conversation. He heard:**_

**_"How did he get away? He shouldn't have changed course like that."_**

**_"That Niikyo freak helped him escape."_**

**_"That little pain! She always has to defend him!"_**

**_"We should've put her into the equation before setting out on this plan..."_**

**_"Someone's gotta remind her where her place is."_**

_**The conversation continued, but Sasuke had heard enough and tuned them out. He then ran off toward his house before the girls started to follow him again.**_

Sasuke opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling, thinking over what he had just saw. _So, Natsumi had helped me escape a fangirl trap? Great, and the girls really despised her... I wonder what they did to her for helping me? Why would I even care?_ Sasuke sat up and ran his hand through his raven black hair while he stared at the ground. _Why do I remember her only in my dreams? What is going on?_

'Hello?' came a voice. Sasuke tensed and looked at the door. It was closed. He looked around the room. Nothing.

'Hello?'

_Where is that voice coming from?_

'Well, I didn't expect you to answer, but it was worth a shot.' Something in his mind stirred, and he suddenly felt alone in the room. The voice did not speak again.

_What was that?_Sasuke thought. He looked out his window, and then he stood up and closed the curtain on it and sat back down on his bed. The Uchiha unsheathed his katana and examined the blood that he didn't clean off, Natsumi's blood. A twisted feeling came from his gut, and Sasuke had thoughts of him being...guilty. He scowled at the thought of feeling such an emotion, and then he grabbed a small cloth from the drawer in the bedside table and wiped the brownish-red blood off his blade. _Why am I caring about this one girl who I barely remember? Why is she so important in my thoughts?_The boy sighed his frustration when now answer came out at him, and he decided to go outside and train. He stood up and walked out of his room, up the hallway, out the back door and into the "backyard" where there were several stumps. He then made hand signs, creating Chidori, and charged at the middle stump.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Nothing?" Naruto asked as Natsumi stood up from her spot on a large rock. They had stopped to let Natsumi try and contact Sasuke through her thought-speech, and they had waited patiently for three minutes.

"Nothing," replied Natsumi. "I didn't expect him to remember how to reply in thought-speech. It was a wild shot." She then looked at the setting sun. "At this rate, we may catch up with them tonight." She looked at her comrades, and they nodded to concur that they wanted to continue their search. Kiyara, who was resting under a tree, crawled away from her spot and kneeled for them to ride. Naruto, Sakura, Sai, and Natsumi got onto the dragon's back, and Kiyara took flight once again.

"So do we have a plan on what to do as soon as we find where Team Falcon are hiding?" Sakura asked.

"Distract Karin, Suigetsu and Juugo and capture Sasuke. Try to paralyze him with a poison dart or something if knocking out is not an option. Trap his teammates somehow if we can help it. Sound good so far?" Natsumi asked.

"Yeah, so we're basically doing whatever seems necessary in the current situation?"

"Exactly." The Niikyo placed her left hand on her right shoulder area and started healing her wound further. After a minute or two of healing, a smile came across Natsumi's lips. "I'm fully healed," she stated.

Naruto grinned. "Alright! Now we're gonna have a great battle!" His optimism made all his teammates smile.

"Yes Naruto, it will be an entertaining battle indeed," Natsumi said. Sakura, Sai, Natsumi, and Naruto looked ahead of them and then down at the forest below, searching for any possible hideout that Team Falcon could reside in. The sun began to dive behind the mountains, and the sky grew dark. Hours had passed, and the Konoha ninja were nodding off. Natsumi kept a sharp eye out for anything strange, and her eye straining work paid off. She turned around and shook Naruto, who stirred and opened his eyes a crack.

"What?" he asked sleepily.

Natsumi grinned. "Found a cabin, and I even saw an explosion from the Chidori." That news had sunk into the blond, and he was suddenly awake and alert.

"Great!" he said. The boy turned and shook Sakura, and when she woke up and heard the news she woke up Sai. Once he got the message, he looked down where Kiyara was circling.

"Should we strike now?" Sai asked. "They're bound to notice us if we sleep tonight."

Natsumi thought about that for a moment. Then she answered, "We should probably get a little bit of sleep, and then capture Karin, Suigetsu and Juugo before confronting Sasuke." There was some silence, and then Sakura spoke.

"How did you do with that last fight with Sasuke?" she asked. "If we try to trap the other three, Sasuke would hear and come running."

"Obviously I lost, but I had good speed and all."

"Would you like to rematch with him?" Naruto asked. "You were slightly handicapped last time, you tried to stay in your disguise remember?" The redhead laughed at the boy's positive attitude and determination.

"Wouldn't you want to fight Sasuke?" Natsumi questioned.

"Well, if you want me to... But you can get a few hits in too if you want." The boy grinned his foxy grin, and Natsumi grinned back. "Then I guess it's settled. Sakura, Sai, and I will get the other three while you keep Sasuke at bay. Then, once we have the rest of Team Falcon held off, I can run over and finish off Sasuke for you."

"Good idea Naruto, good idea," the Niikyo said with a smile. She turned her head to Sakura and Sai. "How do you two feel about the plan?"

"Fine with me," Sakura said.

Sai nodded, his fake smile on his face. "It's alright with me," he said.

"Okay then. We should be safe up here, so if you guys want to, get some sleep. If you don't want to sleep at a high elevation, then we can try flying back a bit and resting in the trees," Natsumi said.

"I think the trees would be best," Naruto said. "No one wants to fall off in their sleep." Natsumi chuckled, agreed, and told Kiyara to fly back about a quarter of a mile and land in a tree. Kiyara did as she was instructed and wrapped around a tree. Everyone jumped off and settled individually on the large branches that were the closest together. Kiyara shrank down to a foot long and curled up beside Natsumi, who was now a small ferret, curled up in the middle of the branch's space.

"It is good that you are well enough to transform," Kiyara said.

"Yes it is," the ferret replied. Natsumi yawned and curled up tighter. "Let us know if anyone is coming."

"Of course my lady." The dragon watched as the ferret drifted into sleep as well as the other tree Leaf shinobi. Once all four were asleep, Kiyara shrank slightly as to not arouse suspicion from people who might walk by. The serpent then started to think about something. _Lady Natsumi really cares for Sasuke, but I'm starting to think that's she's giving up on him. Either that, or she's heartbroken by all that has happened between her and him. Oh I wish I knew..._

* * *

Thanks for reading this chapter, it's kinda short, but I haven't updated in a while. Hmmm, what is the reason for both Sasuke's mystery of Natsumi and (based on Kiyara's thoughts) Natsumi's depression? Find out next time! Anyways, Please Review! Thanks again.

~RedWolf210


	4. Chapter 4

The sound of clanging metal woke up the Uchiha, and he sat up in bed and looked around. He then got out of bed and looked out his window and saw a flash of orange and grey. The two blurs collided to reveal Naruto and Suigetsu battling. He looked to the left and saw Sai fighting Juugo, and Sakura fighting Karin. Sasuke quickly ran outside of the house to fight, but then he was cut off in the middle of the front of the house by a large, long red dragon. A whizzing sound alerted the Uchiha of an incoming knife, and he jumped back in time to dodge. Natsumi appeared out of nowhere and nearly kicked Sasuke in the face.

Natsumi swung her opened fan at the boy, and he did a back-flip to avoid getting cut by the knives that suddenly protruded from the fan. She threw several knives at the Uchiha, and he kept dodging. "Oh come on Uchiha!" Natsumi shouted. "Fight like you mean it! Don't be a coward!" She kept trying to land a hit on the Uchiha, but he only dodged and blocked. During this one-way attack, both Natsumi and Sasuke became frustrated.

_Why aren't I facing her like every other person I went up against?!_Sasuke thought. _My body is acting on its own with this... What the hell is going on?_

Natsumi threw a few more knives, and then she waited for him to make a move. Her fans were ready to block or attack. Sasuke debated with himself for a minute before deciding to throw several kunai, one of them with a bomb tag attached. The bomb hit the ground by her feet and exploded on contact. The black smoke cleared, and the kunoichi was no longer there. The Uchiha looked around, fully alert to intercept her next attack. Again, Natsumi appeared out of nowhere and nearly sliced him with her bladed fan. Within those few seconds, Sasuke could see the frustration and anger in the girl's golden eyes. He rolled to the side and swung his arm, kunai in hand. She grabbed his wrist and shoved it out of her way. The girl punched Sasuke in the gut, and he ignored the blow. He returned the hit with a knee to the stomach. Natsumi, too, ignored the pain and shoulder rolled to the side and stood up.

"Why are you holding back?" she asked. Sasuke looked behind her and saw the other battles going on beyond the red dragon, whose piercing topaz eyes stared into his onyx eyes. "Answer me, Sasuke!" The Uchiha looked back at the Niikyo.

"I'm trying to make this battle more interesting," he lied.

She glared at him. "Why don't you just fight me like you do your friends?! You try to kill them without much hesitation, why?"

"Why do you care?"

"They're my friends, and you are too."

The boy froze at that. "I barely know you!" _Then again, I do have memories of her somehow..._He ignored that thought and made several clones. They all charged at Natsumi, who moved her fans and created a huge gust of wind that sliced through the clones and launched Sasuke himself back several yards. The boy did a midair flip and landed on his feet. He saw a blur and instinctively jumped to the side to see a tiger barely miss him. The tiger turned around and roared at him.

_Could it be that he is remembering something? _Natsumi thought. _I doubt it. Still, I need to weaken him._She lunged at the Uchiha, and he quickly moved out of the way. She swung her paw and clawed into his left arm. The boy made some distance between them and took a quick look at his arm. Finding that he wasn't that hurt, he continued to fight. The boy made hand-signs and preformed his Fireball Jutsu. The tiger leaped into the air to dodge it. The feline turned into human in the air and was caught by the dragon. The huge serpent flew around and shot a stream of fire at Sasuke.

The boy went into the air to see the earth beneath him become scorched. Gravity brought him down once again, and Sasuke threw two bomb kunais at the dragon. They exploded in midair before the dragon, and Kiyara jerked to the side, causing Natsumi to cling on tight. Sasuke waited for them to land, and instead he saw Natsumi jump off the dragon's back and fly down toward him. Her arm moved, and there was a glistening in the air. The Uchiha ran away from where the reflected light stopped, but he felt a thread wrap around him anyway. He cursed, and Natsumi landed before him.

"Either you come quietly now, or I'm going to have to injure you to where you cannot resist," she said, her eyes glowing gold. If he didn't know any better, Sasuke would've thought that she had a type a Dojutsu based on how unnaturally her eyes seemed her glow.

**Just give up** said his Inner self.

_Why? I shouldn't let her take me back there._

**You know that you want to go back there, back home.**

_They're just gonna lock me up, so why go back?_

**You could go through a trial and be put on probation or something.**

_Shut up. I'm not going back without a fight._

**But don't you want to know about why Natsumi is in your memories? Why you care about her even though it seems that you've only met her once?**

_Shut. Up._

"Well? Are you going to say something?" Natsumi asked.

"Hn," Sasuke said. "I'll go on a whim."

Natsumi raised an eyebrow. "A whim? Whose whim?"

"I know that you don't want to hurt me, and that you want me to go quietly. I can see it in your face." He smirked when she huffed. "You owe me answers since I am doing this."

"Hm, I will only answer your questions when we get back." Natsumi, much to Sasuke's surprise, pulled him up rather easily and nudged him toward the dragon. The girl mumbled, "Sasuke, Kiyara. Kiyara, Sasuke." The dragon nodded its head at the boy, and Sasuke was positioned on Kiyara's back. Natsumi sat by the head of the dragon, and Kiyara took off. Naruto, Sakura, and Sai noticed their comrade taking flight, and they were still battling. Team Falcon saw their leader tied up on the dragon's back.

"Sasuke-kun!" Karin shouted.

Sakura smirked. _Natsumi actually beat him, how fun._The pinkette and the redhead watched at the dragon landed four yards away. Natsumi stared at the three Falcon members in turn, then she spoke.

"Those of you who wish to not be killed will come quietly with us," she said. "You are not to do anything suspicious since it will only lead to your pain and even death depending on the severity of whatever you were doing. So, any of you want to take the easy way out?"

Karin glowered at the kunoichi, and then she looked at Sasuke, looking for any suggestions. His expression was calm like usual, and he didn't make gestures of any sort. She looked at Suigetsu and Juugo, and the two shrugged. Finally, Karin muttered, "I'll surrender."

Juugo sighed and agreed to surrender himself as well. Suigetsu growled and reluctantly agreed as well. Naruto, Sai, and Sakura each bound their opponent's hands and legs and set them on the dragon's back. They got on as well, and all of them took off toward Konoha.

* * *

Kiyara stopped for a break, and Team Falcon were seated in camp separate from their comrades while being watched by one of the Konoha retrieval team. Natsumi was watching over Sasuke while Naruto had Suigetsu, Sai had Juugo, and Sakura had Karin. Natsumi ignored Karin's glares and paid more attention to the fire in the middle of the camp. Sasuke stared at the fire as well, and then he took a quick glance at the Niikyo. After a minute of deliberation with himself, he decided to start a conversation.

"Who are you?" he asked.

Natsumi glanced at him, and then she looked back into the fire and replied, "Natsumi Niikyo."

"And do you know why that name sounds somewhat familiar to me?"

"Well, we have met before."

"When?"

"A long time ago."

"When?"

She rolled her eyes and answered, "When we were around five years old." Before Sasuke could consider that, Suigetsu had decided to make an escape. He turned into water and escaped his ties and began to get away. He was suddenly stopped and frozen. Suigetsu cursed and looked over at Natsumi, who had her hand up and was glaring at him. Her open hand closed a little, and Suigetsu gritted his teeth in pain. Karin, Juugo and Sasuke stared in amazement as the Niikyo tortured their teammate. After a minute of slow crushing, Natsumi told Naruto to watch Sasuke while she walked over to Suigetsu. She created a chakra string and tied it around Suigetsu and bound his wrists and feet tightly. Once she finished, Natsumi and Naruto resumed their original positions.

_Damn, she stopped Suigetsu easily, _Sasuke thought.

**Note to self: do not mess with her.**

Sasuke looked at Natsumi, who still looked rather angry. After a minute he asked, "Why are you mad? You caught him."

"None of your business, Uchiha," Natsumi mumbled.

"Hn, clearly it's not."

"Just shut up."

"You know I can easily break out of this string right?"

"Oh?'" the girl asked. "Try it."

Sasuke smirked and tugged at the strings, and it only got tighter. He tried again, and again it got tighter. The Uchiha gave up and looked at the Niikyo. "What did you do to it?"

"I used a special knot to make it tighten if you try escaping, so if you want your hands to lose circulation you can keep trying to escape."

"Hn." Sasuke looked at Suigetsu, who stared back. The silver-haired Mist ninja glanced at Natsumi and then back at the ground, mumbling what Sasuke thought to be curses and such. The Uchiha looked over at Natsumi, who was busy stroking her dragon's head. He looked into the fire, bored. While he had nothing to do, he began to think about everything.

Here he was, tied up by ninja from the village that he ran away from. His team was also captured, and there seems to be no way to escape. He was camping with his old teammates, excluding Kakashi, and someone who he can not remember as a friend. Sai was still a mystery to him; all he knew was that the boy was his replacement. Now Sasuke thought about the fact that he was returning to Konoha. What is the Fifth Hokage going to do to him? Will she throw him in prison for the rest of his life, or just kill him? Will Naruto or Sakura have a say in this? Will he even be offered a choice of what he wanted to do, as in if he wanted to do community service for a certain amount of time or stay in a dark cell for a certain amount of time? Sasuke looked at Natsumi. _Is she going to have a say in my sentence?_ he thought.

Natsumi patted her dragon on the head, and the red serpent turned and walked towards the fire. Kiyara crawled onto the burning wood and curled up. She closed her topaz eyes, and then the dragon melted its colors with the fire, disappearing. Natsumi felt Sasuke's stare, and she answered. "She's recharging with the heat. We'll be leaving in about an hour."

"Hn," he replied. After a minute he prodded with a question, "Was that a Summoning Dragon?"

"You can say that," she replied with a smirk. "If I explained further, then I'd be disobeying my clan's orders."

"Clan?"

"I've told you too much now. I said that I will answer your questions when we get to Konoha."

"Hn." The Uchiha stared at the fire, trying to look for any trace of the dragon. Finding none, he looked up at the sky, completely bored. Silence took over the campsite, besides the crackling fire of course. Sasuke rather liked the silence, nothing was giving him a headache. He closed his eyes and mainly meditated the rest of the time.

The hour had passed, and Kiyara crawled out of the fire and looked at Natsumi, who stood up with Sasuke. Naruto, Sakura, and Sai stood up as well with their share of Team Falcon. The dragon grew once again to twenty yards, and all eight got on. Kiyara took off and headed for Konoha.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Naruto was walking through the village, not really having an actual destination. He had just finished eating his lunch at Ichiraku, and now he was just walking and enjoying the nice weather. The people walking through the streets were not as busy as he thought it would be at this hour on this warm, sunny afternoon. He walked by the Academy, and the children were just having their recess, running around and playing games such as tag, leap frog, and other things. Naruto smiled at the sight, remembering his own days at the Academy. Sure, they weren't as fun filled and full of friends for most of the time, but it got better later on. The blond continued walking.

It has been two days since he, Sakura, Sai, and Natsumi had brought Sasuke and his team back to Konoha. Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage, had told them that their mission was a success, and that she would inform them -- at least Naruto and Sakura -- of what is to become of their old teammate. Naruto had been anxiously waiting for the news, and he could tell that Sakura was too, even though she was trying to hide it. Just then, a thought came into his mind.

_What about Natsumi? Will Granny Tsunade tell her about Sasuke's sentence?_

Naruto remembered how Natsumi's eyes were sad when she slipped and told them about herself like they knew. She had kept quiet most of the mission about it, besides that one time they were at camp. Natsumi has said that she knew Sasuke longer than he and Sakura. "_I have known him longer than the two of you_," she said. "_My clan and his used to be great friends!_"

_I want to ask her more about Sasuke. Maybe she needs to have someone hear what she keeps inside herself._Naruto had paused by a training area -- a large grass field outlined by many trees with patches of wild flowers and shade, and there were several posts for shuriken practice. He was about to walk on when he noticed a bit of red in the grass as the wind flew by. He took a few steps closer and saw that a girl with bright red hair was lying on the grass, her face turned away from him. Naruto didn't see much movement coming from the girl, and when he recognized the outfit as Natsumi's, he ran over there to see if she was okay.

Natsumi was resting from her training she had done, and everything seemed so quiet around her. The Niikyo had tried to ignore the pain in her hands and shoulder where she was stabbed before, and now they were numb. A sound broke into the silence of her mind. "Natsumi!" Naruto's voice called. His voice became closer. "Hey, are you okay Na--"

When he didn't finish his sentence, Natsumi was confused. She tried to opened her eyes, and the pain grabbed at her again. _Damn it_ she thought. _I overdid it again._

Since they had taken Sasuke back, Natsumi had been training, getting her frustration out of her system. Sometimes this was a good thing, and other times it was bad. Usually Natsumi could stop herself from over exerting herself, but today she didn't know what came over her. Anger just suddenly swelled up inside of her, and she couldn't help but take it out on the wooden post that stood in front of her. When her rage ended, she was sore in her limbs and shoulder. She walked away a few feet and collapsed when her legs gave out. Her chakra was a bit low, and she cursed at herself for being so stupid.

Her shoulder ached and throbbed from the abuse, and her hands burned insanely. Finally, she managed to open her eyes. The world was all one blur, but then it sharpened to where she could see the blades of grass waving by her face. The cool breeze hit her face, and she blinked. Her head began to throb, and her hands were starting to tremble. She heard Naruto call her name again, and she slowly turned her head to face him.

Naruto stared at Natsumi's bloody knuckles. They were really bashed open, and dried blood covered it, hiding all of the gore. He had a feeling that there were splinters inside her cuts and needed to be taken out soon. He saw that a little bit of blood was starting to seep through Natsumi's right pant leg. When the Niikyo turned her head to face him, he could tell that she was tired, but she attempted to sit up anyway. Naruto kneeled down next to her and helped her up. "Natsumi, what the hell were you doing?" he asked while taking her left hand and checking her knuckles.

"I was training..." the girl replied in an inaudible tone.

"Do you see how bloody and messed up your hands are?! You do know that you don't have to kill that stump; other people use it too." He looked over at the wooden posts and noticed that the closest one had reddish brown stains on it. Naruto sighed and reached into his pouch and pulled out a rag and a small bottle of antibiotics. He dripped some of the liquid onto the rag and started to wipe the girl's knuckles. The boy looked at Natsumi, and she was staring at the hand he was cleaning.

"Natsumi, what got into you?" he asked. "Even your right leg is bleeding."

The girl sighed. "I was letting my anger get the best of me."

"Anger? That must've been a whole lot of anger to do this to yourself and make you pass out."

"Yeah..." Natsumi watched as Naruto looked at her hand closely for any splinters. He plucked out a few, and when he was satisfied with the clean wound he pulled out a roll of bandages and started wrapping her knuckles up.

"Would you like to tell me about your reason to beat yourself up so crazily?" he asked.

Natsumi thought about that for a minute, trying to think of the answer herself. After a minute or two she answered, "I was thinking about my past, that's all."

"Your past? What would make you that upset?"

"Just on how stupid I was." Her tone turned bitter, and she clenched her right hand into a fist. Naruto carefully unclenched it and started cleaning the knuckles.

"I don't mean to pry, but what do you mean by that?"

Natsumi hesitated, but then she spoke again. "Well, ever since my clan had died I was just keeping to myself, staying invisible. I did get mocked by people, but I ignored them. Whenever my name was mentioned it was only to speak on how my family died so mysteriously, and how I do not have a home and such. I ignored their petty attempts of pity."

" 'Mysteriously?' "

"Well, not really mysteriously. They were killed the same night as the Uchiha clan, I've told you this."

Naruto nodded. "That's right," he said. "Continue then, sorry."

"It's fine. Anyways, when I found that Sasuke was alive, I went up to say hi, and he did not remember me. My best friend did not remember me whatsoever, all due to him being traumatized about his older brother killing his own family. I felt bad for him, but I kept myself at a distance to prevent him from getting so stressed over trying to remember all of those things he had forgotten." She looked at Naruto, who was quietly listening while bandaging her left hand. She continued.

"Now that I think back to those times, I could have actually prevented him from becoming so cold. I could've been there for him, keep him calm, but I didn't. Instead I decided to back out of his life, to desert him when he needed someone. I could have altered his life in some way, maybe even helping stop him from going to Orochimaru!" Natsumi slammed her right fist into the ground, ignoring the pain that shot up her arm.

Naruto stared at Natsumi, watching a tear fall from her eye. Then he said, "Natsumi, don't beat yourself up about it. What's done is done. Besides, we got Sasuke back, right?"

"...Right..." The Niikyo looked at Naruto and smiled at him. "Thank you for taking care of my hands, Naruto," she said.

"No problem. Want me to get your leg too?"

"I think I have enough chakra to heal it." Natsumi rolled up her right pant leg and exposed the beaten shin. She held her hand over it, and a green chara emitted from her hand. Ten seconds later, she removed her hand from the wound, and it was only dried blood on top of a perfectly unharmed leg. "There," Natsumi said in satisfaction.

"Cool," Naruto said.

"Thanks." The two grinned at each other, and then there was the sound of footsteps approaching them. Both Naruto and Natsumi looked in the same direction (his left and her right) and saw Sakura running toward them. She stopped beside them and placed her hands on her thighs and hunched over, panting.

"Eh, Sakura-chan, what is it?" Naruto asked.

The pink haired kunoichi replied between pants, "The Council...is going to gather today...to discuss..Sasuke-kun's punishment."

Both Naruto and Natsumi's eyes grew slightly wider at the news. Then Naruto had become excited. "Great! Now we can get this whole deal over with."

"Oh..." Sakura looked over at Natsumi. "Lady Tsunade wanted to see you, Natsumi. I don't know why, but it's a bit private based on her tone of voice."

"Alright," Natsumi said. "Thank you for the message Sakura. I'll see you two later then. Thanks again Naruto."

"No problem Natsumi," the blond replied. Both he and his teammate watched the Niikyo run off toward the buildings and to the Hokage's Office. "Hm, I wonder what Granny Tsunade is going to tell her."

"Naruto," Sakura said, "do not call her 'Granny'. It's disrespectful."

"She doesn't mind that much."

Seeing that she cannot convince still to drop the title he gave the Fifth, she sighed and sat down on the grass. The two stared at the clouds floating by in the bright blue sky, and silence followed.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Tsunade was waiting outside of her office today, staring down the street. She saw Natsumi dash toward her and stop before she ran into her. The Niikyo bowed. "You wished to see me, Hokage-sama?" she asked.

"Hai," Tsunade replied with a nod. She started to walk out of the courtyard of the Hokage building. "Walk with me, Natsumi." Without questioning, Natsumi followed the woman into the main street and through the crowds. People saw the Fifth Hokage walking with them, and they automatically gave Tsunade some space, leaving a bubble around her and Natsumi. No one spoke, and then Natsumi decided to speak.

"Um, Lady Hokage," she said, "Where are we going?"

"How did you feel when you saw Sasuke again?" the woman asked.

Natsumi did not see what the question was supposed to accomplish, but she answered anyway. "I was happy to see him unharmed, but to see him as a missing-nin had made the moment bittersweet." She looked at the Hokage. "Is there a reason why you brought him up?"

"I don't know what is going on between you two, but he had requested to see you. Will you accept?"

The Niikyo thought about that for a minute, and then she answered, "Yeah I'll go see him. Where is he kept?"

"That is where I'm taking you right now." Tsunade turned onto another street, and Natsumi followed. After ten minutes they arrived at the local jail and entered its doors. The guards did not question them when they saw the Hokage and stepped aside to let them through to the warden's desk. The man at the desk saw Tsunade and quickly stood up to bow.

"Greetings Hokage-sama," he said. "What can I do for you?"

"There was a request by one of your _residents_to see this young lady here." Tsunade placed a hand on Natsumi's shoulder. "I think you know who I mean?"

"Oh, she's the one?" the warden asked, clearly intrigued. "This is very interesting. Anyway, follow me miss." He turned and started down the hallway.

Tsunade leaned toward Natsumi's ear and whispered, "I'll wait over here for you. Good luck."

"Thank you, Tsunade-sama," Natsumi said. She quickly followed the warden and caught up behind him. They made a left, walked a bit further, and stopped at a room with a solid metal door. The man unlocked the door and opened it for Natsumi. He looked at her.

"I'll bring him in, just wait in here okay?"

"Hai." Natsumi thanked him and entered the room. The room was rather large, and in the middle of it sat a large table and four chairs. There were small mirrors on the walls, and Natsumi knew that those were one-way glasses for the guards and such to look through. She sat in the chair closest to the door. Whichever chair you sat in, you would give the viewers a profile to look at. Natsumi waited for about five minutes when the door opened and closed. She turned around and saw Sasuke, who wore the simple and plain grey uniform the prison gives their tenants. The Uchiha sat across the table from her, and a minute went by in silence.

"So, why did you call me?" Natsumi asked.

Sasuke replied, "You owe me some answers."

"Hn, what do you want to know? Keep in mind that I have limited answers." She propped up her elbows, folded her hands and rested her chin on them. Sasuke thought about the questions he wanted to ask, and then he started his questioning.

"Why should I know you so long; you said that we met at around five, correct?"

"That's right. We were friends because our clans were close."

"What is your clan?"

"Niikyo; kinda obvious since I gave you my name already."

"I have never heard of that clan, yet I still get some memories about you. Why?"

This news made her eyes spark with interest. "Those memories are real, Sasuke. It is just that you have forgotten most of them," she answered.

"Why?"

"You were traumatized by your clan's death."

"You never tried to tell me this when I was still here."

"I did not want to confuse you, but now I regret thinking that way."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her. "Elaborate on that."

"Well, if I convinced you that you were not alone in the world with that issue, that you still had an old friend, you may not have turned out this way." Sasuke thought about that, and then he began thinking about more questions. Before he could ask further, Natsumi asked on of her own questions. "What memories have you seen?"

Sasuke was silent, thinking that he shouldn't answer, but then the fact that she may only answer more of his questions by answering one of her own cam einto his head and convinced him to speak. "There was one when we were younger, and you were injured from a beating that 'Mistress' gave you."

Natsumi tensed at the memory, and Sasuke smirked at the reaction. He continued.

"Then I saw this other one where I was a Genin, and you helped me out of this fangirl trap."

The Uchiha frowned at that memory of being rescued, and this time Natsumi smirked at his reaction.

**Tell her about the fangirls' conversation about her** said his Inner.

_I think that she would already know what they thought about her._

**You just don't wanna seem caring about her past. Well, let me solve that for you -- you DO care. Now, go tell her about it.**

Sasuke thought back to the memory of the girls' conversation:

"_How did he get away?...That Niikyo freak helped him escape...She always has to defend him..._" The last quote that he heard before he stopped listening had made him wonder: "_Someone's gotta remind her where her place is._"

With that thought in mind, he asked, "Did those fangirls find you that day?"

"...Yes."

Sasuke looked at the girl's face, and Natsumi was staring at the metal tabletop. "Did you always keep an eye on me back then?" he questioned. He started feeling that this was really getting out of hand, but now he was really curious.

"I kept my distance, but if i saw that you, or anyone really for that matter, in trouble I would help in any way that I could." Natsumi turned her head to look at the clock. It showed the time as 2:32pm. Sasuke noticed her glance at the time.

"You have somewhere to go?" he asked.

"Not really. Just trying to think about someone's schedule." There was a knock at the door, and the warden's head popped in.

"Time's up," he said. "Come on now miss." Natsumi nodded and stood up. She smiled at Sasuke.

"I hope that I have clarified certain things for you," she said. "Have a good day, Sasuke." Natsumi turned around and left the room. The warden watched her go, and then he told Sasuke to get up. The Uchiha stood up from his chair and followed the man back to his cell.

_Hm_, he thought. _Natsumi is a really complicated person, but I think I can figure her out._

_

* * *

_

Review PLEASE. Thanks.

PS: I do NOT own Naruto or the other characters in the anime, BUT I DO own Natsumi and Mayume. XP


	5. Chapter 5

Naruto was eating at Ichiraku Ramen Shop as usual, slurping up the noodles and enjoying the flavor. He heard someone walk into the small resuraunt and sit next to him. The young woman, from the sound of her voice, ordered some pork ramen and a glass of water. Naruto took a side-glance to his left and saw Natsumi waiting for her food. He smiled and said, "Hey Natsumi."

The red haired kunoichi looked at him and also smiled. "Hello Naruto," she replied.

"Hey, why did Granny Tsunade call you yesterday?"

"She wanted to talk to me about certain things."

"Private stuff?"

"Yes."

"Okay." Ayame, the daughter of the owner of the shop and the waitress, arrived at the counter and set Natsumi's bowl of ramen in front of her as well as her glass of water. Natsumi thanked her and started to eat. After a few moments of silence, Naruto wondered aloud, "When do you think they'll tell us of Sasuke's sentence?"

"I don't know," Natsumi answered. "Their trials can take a while."

"That's true." Naruto slurped up some more noodles. "Aah, that hit the spot." Natsumi smiled at him and resumed eating her soup. Naruto soon finished his bowl and stood up. "Well," he said, "I'm gonna go now. see ya later Nat."

" 'Kay." Naruto paid for his food and left the shop, and Natsumi took a sip of her broth. She then sighed and stared at her watch. _Now Naruto has me wondering about the trials, great. I doubt that they'll kill him, but it could happen. Then again, he could just end up doing community service of some sort. Yeah, that sounds like something that he would disklike and they would suggest, hehe._ With that idea satisfying her mind, she finished up her ramen and paid her bill. She stepped out of Ichiraku Ramen and started walking over to the training field to practice her abilities.

* * *

It was around three in the afternoon, and Natsumi was practicing her water bending. She was standing on the river, and she was making the water around her rise as a wall. The wal then split into eight columns that moved individually to that of a tentacle on an octopus. She moved the arms around, as if they were doing stretches, and then she used one tentacle to slap the surface of the water and made a row of ice spike out of the river. A second water column shattered the ice spikes, and another caught them. The spikes were distributed among the tentacles, and then once all of them had one, they crushed the ice, which had a thickness of four feet.

Her training for such things as this really reqiured another person. The Octopus was used as self defense and minor offense, but without a partner, she could practice neither. Bored, Natsumi gave up and let the water coloumns sink back into the river. She walked to the shore and sat on the grass, completely out of ideas. After a while of nothing, Natsumi summoned a ball of fire into her right hand, and she began to play catch with it. She heard footsteps approaching her, and she caught the fireball in her left and and turned around to see Naruto.

"Hey," Natsumi said. "What's up?"

"Nothing," Naruto replied. "I've been pretty bored lately, and I decided to come over here to train. Then I saw you and, well, do you want to spar with me?"

The girl's face lit up a little, and the fire in her hand disappeared. She stood up. "Sure, I need to see if my bending needs work anyway."

Naruto grinned and asked, "So, ninjutsu only, taijutsu, what?"

"Heh, give it all you got Naruto, no limits."

"Ha, then you're going down quick Natsumi."

Natsumi smirked and got into her fighting stance, fans open and ready. "Try me," she taunted. Naruto stared at her with his determined blue eyes, and he ran at the young woman. Natsumi threw a knife from her fan straight at him, and he jumped into the air. He threw three kunai, and Natsumi leaped backwards and out of the way of the daggers and letting them hit the ground. While on his way down, Naruto made a hand sign, and he landed in a puff of smoke. Five Narutos ran out of the smoke and toward Natsumi. She waved her fans, firing five knives at the clones. Two were hit and disappeared while the other three dodged and contiuned their run.

"You have to do better than that!" Natsumi said. She jumped into the air, dodging Naruto's Rasengan. The blond was shocked that she noticed, but he quickly was launched into the air after her by a clone. The Rasengan, which he set to a low, hit the redhead, who then became a log.

"Heh, smart," Naruto commented. He flipped and landed on the ground. The boy noticed a projectile being thrown at him, and he quickly stepped to the side to dodge it. An ice shard flew past him, and he looked at the river and saw Natsumi ontop of the water. She smirked and threw several more ice needles, and Naruto easily dodged them. Suddenly, a long arm of water shot out to Naruto and punched him in the chest and sending him back five feet. He got up and looked at Natsumi, who was surrounded by eight colums of water. He testd it by throwing eight shuriken, and all the arms caught them and sent them to Natsumi for her to use. She held them in a fan between her fingers and smiled at Naruto.

"Why thank you. You've given me a chance to use this technique." Natsumi threw the shuriken, and Naruto jumped up to dodge it. He was smacked down by a tentacle, and he poofed. _Shadow Clone_ Natsumi observed. _Very clever._ She created an ice platform and lifted herself up in time to dodge Naruto's second Rasnegan. She jumped over her water octopus and threw three kunais at the boy, who eaily dodged them and jumped up after her. Before he reached her, Natsumi turned into a hawk and flew out of his reach. Naruto returned to the bank of the river and watched the hawk fly to a nearby tree. When the bird landed she turned back into her human form and just sat there on the branch.

"Running away Nat?" Naruto teased.

"No. I'm only pausing the game." She looked toward the buildings. "Someone is here," she said. Naruto looked into the same direction, and someone started to come over the small hill and was running striaght for them. It wasn't Sakura, and Naruto didn't think that it would be Sai, so who is the person running toward them, and what does he or she want?

* * *

Yes it's a short chapter compared to the usual ones I dish out, but I am trying to make this last. Hope you liked it. Review!!

~RedWolf210


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